Frances Ann Witchingham and my other Witchingham ancestors

Frances Ann Witchingham (1773-1847). My 5th great-grandmother. Witchingham is a reasonably common surname in Norfolk and probably derives from the village of Witchingham, north-west of Norwich. Over time the name has been spelled in a variety of ways including Wychingham, Wichinham, Withingham and even Wichengim. I do have concerns about the Witchingham tree below. Some […]

Godfrey Weston and my other Weston ancestors

Godfrey Weston (1785-1862). My 4th great-grandfather. Godfrey Weston took advantage of a young woman and then tried to evade his responsibilities to her and the daughter he fathered out of wedlock… He was born on 14 March 1785 and baptised three days later at St Mary’s Church in Banham, Norfolk. His parents were John Weston […]

Elizabeth Wetherill (1713-1799?) – businesswoman of Norwich

Elizabeth Wetherill (1713-1799?) and Edward Peterson (1714?-1783). My 7th great-grand aunt and uncle. Elizabeth was baptised on 1 February 1713 at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, her parents being schoolteacher Thomas Wetherill and Mary Corpe. Her brother William Wetherill’s will refers to her as Elizabeth Peterson and mentions her children but I’ve not found […]

Sarah Rice and my other Rice ancestors

Sarah Rice (1791-1871). My 4th great-grandmother. Sarah was the first of the Rice family to join my family tree. She was baptised on 3 July 1791 at St Mary’s Church in Balcombe, Sussex, to parents George Rice and Mary Harman. She married William Budgen at St Nicholas’s Church in Worth, Sussex, on 2 November 1808. […]

William Wetherill (1711-1789) – eminent teacher of maths

William Wetherill (1711-1789), Elizabeth Clarke (????-1767) and Elizabeth Shorten (????-1794).My 7th great-grand uncle and aunts. William was baptised on 14 October 1711 at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to parents Thomas Witherill and Mary Corpe. He followed his father into teaching and left significant property on his death. William married Elizabeth Clarke in […]

Elizabeth Maria Symonds and my other Symonds ancestors

Elizabeth Maria Symonds (1826-1911).My 3rd great-grandmother. Elizabeth Maria Symonds was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1826 and baptised in St Nicholas’s Church on 24 November that year. Her parents were fisherman Charles Robinson Witchingham Symonds and Susanna Waters (see below). Elizabeth married mariner William Mark Green, a Yarmouth native, at St Nicholas’s on 29 […]

Mary Pilgrim and my other Pilgrim ancestors

Mary Pilgrim (1811-1867).My 3rd great-grandmother. My Pilgrim ancestors came from Norfolk in East Anglia and joined my family tree when Mary Pilgrim married James Goulty in 1842. Mary was born illegitimately to mother Elizabeth Pilgrim on 7 January 1811 at Morley St Peter in Norfolk and was baptised there on 13 January. From a court […]

Jane Bashford and my other Bashford ancestors

Jane Bashford (1806-1885).My 3rd great-grandmother. The first Bashford to marry into my Finch family was Jane Bashford, who was born on 13 May 1806 in the village of Chipstead, Surrey. She was baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 15 June that year. Her parents were James Bashford and James Harman (see below). She married Henry […]

Mary Bilcliffe and my other Bilcliffe ancestors

Mary Bilcliffe (1735-1783).My 5th great-grandmother. The Bilcliffe surname is a rare one in the UK and appears in several forms in the records (like many other surnames of the time), for example as Billcliff, Billcliffe, Bentley and even Bentlet. The first to marry into my Surrey-based Finch family was Mary Bilcliffe – but who was […]

Susan Budgen (1795-1870), a Sussex publican

The Half Moon in Warninglid in the early 20th century

Susan Budgen (1795-1870). My 4th great-grand aunt. Susan Budgen was baptised on 19 April 1795 in St Nicholas’s Church in Worth to parents William Budgen and Betty Streeter and grew up in the village. She married George Tulley on 16 October 1820 in Nuthurst, Sussex, an 11 or so mile walk from where she grew up. He hailed […]

Thomas Finch (1795–1852) and the Reigate workhouse

Thomas Finch (1795-1852) and Sarah Chisley (1803-1848). My 3rd great grand-uncle and aunt. Baptised at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey, on 4 April 1795, Thomas was the oldest son of Thomas Finch and his wife Ann Burley. Young Thomas married Sarah Chisley by license in Reigate on 27 July 1820. She was from the […]